


Not Alone

by LukeVonCastiel



Category: Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-24
Updated: 2013-09-24
Packaged: 2017-12-27 12:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/979119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LukeVonCastiel/pseuds/LukeVonCastiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Still newly awakened, Trahearne tries to cope with the darkness and difficulty of his Wyld Hunt by hiding himself away. He discovers, however, that sometimes the embrace of another provides more comfort than all the solitude in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Alone

Trahearne was alone.

With his back against a tree and his knees pulled up to his chest, he sat. The wind shook the branches above him slightly, and leaves fell from their high-up homes, but Trahearne did not see them as he buried his head against his knees, and squeezed his eyes shut.

Figures moved in his head, grotesque and frightening. Some lumbered and crawled, others ran with great speed and ferocity. Some were small, and some towered above. Rank shadows they were, and though he could not define their features or see them clearly in his mind, he knew they were there.

In the rotted hulls of ships, in the shattered towers and temples, over rocky barren expanses. At the highest points to the lowest pits, the creatures in his head infested a land. A land to which he had to go.

A land which he must make green once more.

Trahearne shivered violently. He had yet to venture from the safety of this haven, this Grove, yet already he felt a sense of fear within him. It was not that he did not want to cleanse the land, to make it beautiful and whole once again. It was not that he lacked the drive to do it, for his heart was set on that land, his mind never free of its grasp.

It was that he was frightened. Frightened of the monsters, yes. Frightened of the corruption, certainly. But above all, he was frightened of failure.

And that fear grew more with the images, for how could any light, even that of the Pale Tree, of the Dream, ever cleanse such a monstrous place?

And thus, he sat alone. For he did not desire for any such feelings to ripple out from him and affect the others, nor did he wish for any unwanted attention. He needed privacy, he needed quiet.

He needed peace, but there was none to be had anywhere. Not even alone, for his head kept falling back into the grasps of those images, and his heart continued to throb painfully with the urge to cleanse the darkness from them.

His shivering intensified as he dug his fingers into his legs, trying to return the warmth to his body. He knew he should seek out the Mother Tree, let her love and strength warm him as he could not warm himself, but he was ashamed. Ashamed of his doubt, ashamed of his fear, ashamed that she could feel such things within him even as he sought to hide himself.

But in the end, he could not hide himself well enough.

"Are you alright?"

Trahearne jumped, eyes wide with surprise and heart hammering as he took in the sylvari before him. He had not felt him approach, not his warmth or his strength, or the waves of concern that rolled off the other, so deep in his own sorrow had he been.

It was, Trahearne realised, one of the three that had emerged at Noon. He was the colour of rich earth and green leaves, and his eyes shone with a fierce passion for life that Trahearne could feel resonate within him. It was different from the warmth of the Pale Tree, more personal, yet Trahearne could not understand why.

The two had never spoken before this moment, though twelve sylvari had never spoken much to begin with. They were still new, still adjusting, feeling through their connection rather than communicating with words. They had not even told one another their names.

Still shivering, Trahearne struggled to find a response for the other. He was well in body, that was true enough, but inside he felt frightened and cold, a sickness of the heart that continued to fester, as if he were an old thing rather than a new one. A desire to protect the other from Trahearne’s own pain demanded he not speak of it, but the strength and heat of the other whispered to him that the other would not mind, that they wanted to help.

Opening and closing his mouth a few times, he finally settled on an answer.

"No."

The other sylvari responded immediately,rushing over and kneeling before him. His eyes were narrowed in concern as he reached out to take Trahearne’s hands, felt them trembling within his own grip. Then he let his hands go and threw his arms around him, pulling Trahearne forward and against his chest.

Trahearne was unsure how to respond for only a moment, before his emotions took over and he gripped the other in turn, burying his head in the others embrace. The images of monsters and barren lands failing to turn green fled as warmth flooded through him. It was so different from the Mother’s warmth, heated with something more passionate and protective, something fiercer and yet just as gentle.

Trahearne ceased to tremble as the other sylvari drew him closer, held him tighter. The two had never spoken before this moment, and though they had lain with the rest of the twelve at the roots of the Pale Tree beneath her watchful gaze as they slept, they had never truly communicated beyond the empathic connection of the Dream. Yet in that moment Trahearne knew he wanted nothing more to be held forever in the arm’s of the other.

And through that link between them, Trahearne felt the same yearning within the other. The desire to hold and be held, to protect and be protected, to laugh and make laugh, to kiss and be kissed…

To love, and be loved.

Trahearne pulled back and stared in wonder as the other rested a hand against his cheek, caressing it lightly.

"Your name," Trahearne whispered. "Please tell me your name."

"I am Riannoc," the other smiled, thumbing away tears Trahearne was not aware had even fallen from his eyes. "And though I came here with only the intent to ease the pain of one so burdened, I know now why I was called here, my beloved…"

"Trahearne," Trahearne said, grip on the other tightening as a bright smile formed on his face. His fears drowned in the light of the sensation inside of him, the only words now echoing in his heart being ones of love, and whispers of a name so wonderful it sent thrills down his spine.

Riannoc.

And beneath that tree, Trahearne lay in his arms, and was no longer alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the fic 'From Dawn to Dusk' by Xendell, which can be found on their ff.net account.


End file.
